Steve Taylor Blew Up Christian Music Real Good!

"A clean stage is a happy stage," Steve Taylor wisely offers at the St.
Louis soundcheck while pointing out some crates sitting onstage, "that's what
I always say." Even without a crowd, he always has something interesting to
say. The world figured that out when his debut EP I Want To Be A
Clone forever changed Christian music. Instead of religious reruns
with the complexity of a bumper sticker, Christian music was then free to pry
loose the traditions strangling the church... much like the writers of the
Bible did. Taylor's lyrical jibes often mirror Biblical prophets, outlandish
former-day rock 'n' roll dudes who refused to sidestep a challenge.

"I'm always interested in a lot of the theatricality that went into the
Old Testament prophets, and it amazes me how the church can be so
conservative and staid in their traditions when you look at the bizarre
nature of the prophets," says Taylor.

We're sitting backstage cross-legged on the floor in a room without chairs
and a box of baby toys in the corner. Taylor will soon be playing with the
baby toys and I'll soon lose all feeling in my left leg. Hardly the
dignified setting you expect for a major name in Christian music, but then
Steve Taylor has never really followed tradition. For instance, he finds
altar calls at rock concerts inappropriate, based on five years' experience
as a youth pastor. "I understand why altar calls are done, but I also have
the privilege of being on the other side and knowing how to manipulate an
audience... if it was easy to do as a youth pastor, it's five times easier
as a rock performer." In the first six months of his stint as youth pastor,
he learned the finer points of taking kids on a youth retreat. Light some
candles, hold hands, and sing "Kumbaya" until half of them crack from
emotionalism. How much more powerful would a rock concert be? "The deal is,
I've never felt altar calls were necessary to justify what I'm doing... and
I resent the sometimes fascist mentality on the part of some Christian bands,
like their way is the only way and if you don't do that you don't care about
kids or something like that."

He wouldn't be so vehement if he didn't see some bands creating more
victims than converts. "When somebody says they've seen thousands of kids
come to the Lord, I don't believe them. I know that, while the Billy Graham
organization knows how to follow up, most rock bands don't. They're not the
Billy Graham ministry that goes into churches to work with counselors a year
before the thing starts. The other problem is when kids come forward basing
a commitment more on liking the rock star than on wanting to follow Jesus...
six months later, if there wasn't any follow-up, they don't understand why
they believed in the first place. Then it's doubly hard to reach them the
next time, because they think they've tried Christianity and it doesn't
work."

Some might assume Steve Taylor is some smart-alec revolutionary, but he's
really well-rounded. His literate probing of shaky church traditions puts
him in league with Da, but he can be as accessible as Amy Grant.

"I admire the nerve that can go into something that's so obscure that no
one knows what the heck you're talking about... but for me, the
communication thing is high on my agenda. I wouldn't want someone who is
reasonably intelligent to not have a clue what the song is about."

Taylor's satire pokes fun at church and world problems alike, moving from
prejudice ("We Don't Need No Colour Code") to abortion ("Bad Rap") to
religious country clubs that double as churches ("This Disco Used to be a
Cute Cathedral"), never afraid to question his faith. What's the point of
believing something that's too fragile to question? "A lot of us are afraid
to ask questions, afraid that maybe Christianity doesn't hold all the
answers... I suppose that's partly lack of faith, partly the reality that
most churches are great with comfortable questions, but don't really like
areas that are unknown. The absurd part is, are they afraid that someone's
going to come up with a question that will send the Christian faith toppling
down after 2,000 years? I don't think that's possible."

Steve Taylor once suffered serious doubts, his first year at a Christian
college. Wondering if what he believed was based on truth, he started
checking into the historical and philosophical claims of Christianity. "I
started seeing why we believe the Bible is true, why we
believe Jesus is the Son of God, why we believe He rose from the
dead... I got a good grounding in my head, as well as my heart. I would
challenge all believers to do that, because it just helps in times of doubt.
It's like Peter saying you have to be 'ready with an answer' (1 Peter
3:15)."

Switching from Biola University to a "very radical" Colorado University
his second year, Taylor found intellectual faith to be a real kick. "I
could get into it with students and start shooting questions back at them,
and it was great to actually see them stumbling, trying to figure that stuff
out. I so seldom saw that in exchanges with Christians and non-Christians.
Christians tend to fall back on 'you gotta have faith' or 'I just
believe'... and for someone who doesn't already believe the Bible, they
don't care if the Bible says so."

That may explain the "apologetic" nature to some of his work. "It's an
area that's still kind of lacking, not just in Christian music, but in the
church in general. We don't tend to know why we believe... which allows
misconceptions about Christianity to continue. If people really knew their
Bibles I don't see how some of these 'health and wealth' doctrines could
have cropped up. Compare them with what Jesus taught and they're absurd.
If people understood there are reasons to believe Jesus was the Son
of God, when they got into it with someone at school or work, there's a lot
of questions they can answer instead of staying on the
defensive."

The real question at this point is, will those ideas come across in
music? Can a song educate? "There are a lot of people, obviously, who just
dabble and listen to the top 40... but there's a lot of people who really
want to know what a song has to say. We certainly saw music at the
forefront of the protest movement in the late 60's, we certainly saw music
at the front of the punk movement in England in 1976-77... there's no
reason music can't continue to have that kind of effect." Taylor credits
the Clash with educating him about the Spanish Civil War. In light of this
power, he doesn't think music should be listened to casually, any more than
you should sit in a move theater with your mind on "autopilot." "I
certainly don't advocate a diet of all Christian and no secular music,
because you miss out on a lot of good songs and even good philosophies...
we don't have a corner on the market for truth... but I think the mind
should always be engaged when listening."

While promoting 'think'-music, Taylor also sees blatant Christian music
as filling a definite need. "I don't see a problem with in-your-face
Christian music... because there are a lot of people who don't
really dig into lyrics, who either just let it wash over them or prefer
short spurts of easily-digested songs. There's something to be said for
blatant lyrics, but there's a lot of room for realizing that a Christian is
obliged to comment on the totality of life. We have a slant on issues that
non-Christians don't necessarily have."

Moving away from the quirky sounds of Clone in subsequent
releases, the smoother dance music and tamer lyric structure of I
Predict 1990 has given Steve Taylor a more mature appearance, while
recent mainstream Christian music has been moving into more intense ground.
As the two seem to be closer, is Steve Taylor becoming more normal, or is
mainstream Christian music becoming more weird? "Gosh, I hope I'm not
getting closer to mainstream Christian music." He's shocked at the
comparison. "The things that interest me musically don't have anything to
do with most mainstream Christian music... and I would really resent being
clumped in with that group. It's nothing against them personally (I don't
want to sound condescending here because they're all good guys). They do
what they do well, but if I ever felt I was being classified as mainstream
rock 'n' roll, I would definitely go on to something else. Maybe go back to
being a janitor."

The issue seems to lie in musical goals. Steve Taylor has a unique
vision, and to move into territory that's already occupied would be artistic
failure. "The thing we're all faced with is that new wave is dead. Dave
Perkins and I were lamenting the death of rock 'n' roll, wondering how many
times it can keep reinventing itself. It's really hard if you stay in the
arena of rock music now to come up with an actual sound that is honestly
unique... because how do you sound fresh in this age?"

And finally, what's the deal with Steve Taylor moonlighting as guitarist
in the DeGarmo & Key band? "No, that's another Steve Taylor, but if
they want to send me checks, that's okay."